The Kuali Foundation is an open source organization for education institutions and other organizations dedicated to developing open source tools for higher education. The Kuali Financial System is Kuali's flagship project. Based originally on Indiana University's Financial Information System, KFS is a modular, enterprise-level financial system comprising accounts receivable, general ledger, purchasing/accounts payable, budget construction, and other major financial functions.

For the implementation, Stevens tapped rSmart, a commercial provider of services for supporting, implementing, and hosting open source software in K-12 and higher education, including Kuali and Sakai. rSmart is also currently listed as the sole major commercial partner in the Kuali Financial System project within the Kuali Foundation.

Stevens has currently implemented five KFS modules (Accounts Receivable, Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Labor Ledger, and Purchasing/Accounts Payable), with plans to add the Budget Construction and Capital Assets modules "in the coming months," according to rSmart.

"Looking back, it has been an exciting and rewarding journey," said Mary S. Wheeler, assistant vice president for finance in Stevens's Office of Finance, in a prepared statement. "We had an aggressive timeframe of completing this implementation in just one year. There were a few speed bumps along the way, and very long hours. The entire team put in a lot of work, and it was well worth it. We've streamlined processes and now have a modern system for managing the university's financial processes. I view this as the base for future process improvements."

Some of those improvements so far have included the elimination of paper-based processes and the addition of new and streamlined document tracking and reporting capabilities.

For the Stevens implementation, rSmart provided "strategic planning, timeline, resources and methodology for the project," according to the company, and is also providing hosting services for Stevens's implementation.

Outside institutions also collaborated with Stevens to help implement the system.

Located in Hoboken, NJ, Stevens Institute of Technology serves more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students.

About the Author

David Nagel is edtorial director, education for 1105 Media's Public Sector Media Group. A 22-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.